When debating whether something is worth removing from your game, try flipping it first. Ask yourself “if this wasn’t in the game yet, would we be desperate to add it in?” For example, a highly controversial statement from a lead at Mojang Studios was about the iconic Creeper. He pointed out that if the Creeper […]
Let’s talk about the biggest incentive-alignment problem in Pinball: The ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ข๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐๐. Pinball builds escalation into its game design through the use of upgrades and special modes unlocked during play. Players accomplish objectives by making specific shots, often somewhat risky, building up to a game state change that massively increases scoring potential – and often […]
Just ran a 5-hour session on how to design monetization systems. So many studios miss the beautiful reality of games: designers are alchemists. If you know what youโre doing, your designs can increase the value of your gameโs goals and rewards. If something feels like itโs worth $5, then you have a lot of trouble […]
Counter-intuitively, a common reason that players are afraid to waste consumable items is that the items are too weak – not too strong. Devs often reduce the impact of consumables so players will be less afraid to waste them, or out of game balance concerns so they can ensure players can overcome all of a […]
“Modder’s Law – The more meticulously hand-crafted the game, world, and lore, the more fun it is to make an absolute mess of it.” Replacing Skyrim’s dragons with Thomas the Tank Engine is fun because it’s ridiculous. Players like the feeling of getting away with something, doing things in ways other than the devs expected. […]
Many people tend to assume system design is about algorithms, spreadsheets, data, and math – and so it should be perfect for AI-based solutions. In reality, systems design is much more about figuring out how to present incentives to a player in an intuitive and sustainable way, identify the emergent consequences of how mechanics and […]
โIf you were turning on one cheat to make your game much easier to beat, what would it be? This tells you a lot more about your game than anything else.โ Heard this from a YouTuber called Surnex, and got me thinking. In reality thereโs a lot of ways to cheese the idea behind this […]
A while ago, I talked about why so many games offer 3 options to players making a decision. I also wrote about when to use 4. Today I’m going to quickly cover 2, 5, and 8. 2 options is best used for thematic contrasts like good/evil or war/peace binaries – but in the context of […]
When working on Rise of Shadows at Blizzard Entertainment we had an extra slot for a mage Epic, and not much time left to experiment. I knew a lot of mage players loved playing a bunch of spells in one turn, using mage’s cost-discounting effects to turn 1-cost and 2-cost cards into free flurries of […]
Let’s talk about “Net Fun” in PvP games. If your game is only fun when you win, you have a big problem. Matchmaking can’t fix this. Given a 50% win rate, Humans still feel the impact of losses more intensely than we feel the benefit of gains (thanks “loss aversion”). I think about it like […]
Dan Felder 